Over the course of four years’ banishment to America’s political wilderness while subjected to both a would-be assassin’s bullets and the humiliating and unprecedented spectacle of criminal prosecution by his political opponents, Donald Trump seems to have intuited a key life lesson: Time is of the essence. Carpe diem, seize the day. Like a thoroughbred bursting out of the Kentucky Derby starting gate, the second Trump administration has been racing full speed ahead ever since Trump was inaugurated once again as president of the United States.

Here, then, is a six-month Trump administration report card.

Economy: B+

The stock market is considerably up since Trump resumed office, Trump’s tariffs are bringing in substantial revenue to the Treasury, the president renewed his landmark 2017 tax cuts and cut taxes on tips and overtime pay, he has finalized historic trade deals with major powers, inflation has stayed relatively consistent, and blue-chip companies have announced massive domestic investments in the U.S. economy. On the other hand, the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” while a net positive piece of legislation, only exacerbated America’s glaring debt problem.

Domestic policy: A

Trump, through both court wins and crucial executive orders, has taken meaningful steps to curtail the administrative state Leviathan and consolidate executive power where it properly belongs: with the president himself. He has protected women’s sports and female federal inmates from intimate exposure to biological males, protected vulnerable confused children from the irreversible depredations of transgender “medicine,” and crushed the modern racism that is “diversity, equity and inclusion.” He has secured numerous other decades-sought-after domestic conservative goals, such as (partially) defunding Planned Parenthood, defunding NPR and PBS, and vastly downsizing the Department of Education.

Immigration: A+

Trump, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and “border czar” Tom Homan have overseen the most effective border security and mass deportation operation in American history. Perhaps even better, the administration has pursued its immigration enforcement agenda in a way that also redounds to its political interests – from the Hamas-sympathizing former Columbia graduate student Mahmoud Khalil to the MS-13-tied “Maryland man” Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the administration’s highest-profile immigration battles have been waged against unsavory and unsympathetic figures.

Law: A-

Lower-court judges have tried to nip the administration’s agenda in the bud with ludicrous “nationwide injunctions,” but most of those acts of judicial hubris will be brought to heel by Trump’s recent Supreme Court victory in the CASA case. And while judicial nominations have gotten off to a slower start than during the first Trump term, the administration’s picks thus far for federal courts have invariably been top-notch. On the other hand, the administration might want to try to entice more conservative older judges to take “senior status” – perhaps, for instance, by offering them shiny ambassadorships. Finally, the Jeffrey Epstein saga, while not the monstrous scandal-in-the-making some even on the MAGA Right make it out to be, has clearly not been handled particularly well.

Foreign policy: A

Trump’s limited incursion in last month’s 12-day war between Israel and Iran achieved the decades-sought-after goal of severely hampering Iran’s nuclear program, while also not suffering a single American casualty or even boot on the ground. In Europe, NATO nations are already committing to spend more money on defense, thus freeing up the United States to focus first and foremost on its true rival: Communist China. Trump has brought peace to India and Pakistan and to Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. A Russia-Ukraine peace deal remains elusive, but Trump has shown an admirable willingness to adjust in response to changing circumstances.

There is undoubtedly much work left to be done. But his second administration is off to a very strong – and fast – start. Seize the day, indeed.